It felt like an eternity before he moved, lifting his head enough to press a kiss against the side of my throat, just below my sluggish pulse. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “That was . . .” There were no words for how that felt. None whatsoever.

He rose onto his forearms and dipped his mouth to mine. Still inside me, he kissed me slowly. “That was . . . fucking perfect.”

I opened my eyes. “It was. I didn’t . . .”

“What?” he asked when I didn’t finish.

“I didn’t know it could be like that,” I admitted, feeling a bit foolish. “I just didn’t think it could be like it.”

A smug sort of smile appeared on his lips and then he kissed me again before easing out. There was a twinge of discomfort and a weirdness at the feeling of losing the fullness.

My body was boneless as he rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom. When he returned, he’d gotten rid of the condom and was carrying a damp cloth. As he settled on the bed beside me and gently swiped at the proof of what just went down, I was shocked by the intimacy of the moment. Somehow it seemed more than what we’d just done. My throat was tight as he left to pitch the cloth in the bathroom.

I said nothing as he climbed back into bed with me and tugged the covers up over us. He positioned me so I was facing him and his arm was lying over my waist, our knees curved and pressing against each other. He played with the strands of my hair, twining them around his fingers. The silence stretched out for so long that I began to worry that he hadn’t liked it as much as I had, that he wasn’t as moved as I was.

“Thank you,” he said.

I blinked. “What?”

A funny little smile played out across his lips. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”

My mouth gaped.

“It’s a big deal.” His lashes lifted and his eyes met mine. “What we did. It was your first time. I’m honored.”

Was this real?

“So thank you.”

Jax closed the distance between us, melding our lips together in what had to have been the sweetest kiss possible, and I realized this was real. Not some orgasm-induced hallucination, and there was truly no wonder why I’d fallen for him.

My fingers dug into Jax’s chest as I threw my head back, crying out as I came. His hands palmed my breasts and his hips powered up as I all but collapsed onto his chest. His arms circled around me as he came, and I focused on breathing, because it was a chore, as I felt his body shuddering around me.

I was sated and made up of nothing but air as one of his hands circled the back of my head, pressing my cheek against his chest. I could feel his heart pounding as fast as mine. Smiling, I closed my eyes.